Copyright northernirelandworld
An unprecedented number of voters deliberately spoiled their votes during Friday’s contest to elect a new Irish head of state – prompting concern from politicians in Dublin. Ireland's deputy prime minister Simon Harris said people had gone to quite a lot of effort to spoil their ballot, and said that the Irish government needed to do “some soul searching” after just 46% of eligible voters turned out. TUV MLA Timothy Gaston says the sheer number of spoiled ballots “speaks volumes” about the state of the Republic’s democracy. The North Antrim MLA told the News Letter: “While Northern nationalism likes to portray the Republic as a model of modern democracy, the figures tell a very different story. Hundreds of thousands of voters went into polling stations and deliberately spoiled their ballots — a silent protest against a political class that is increasingly out of touch and a system that is broken. “It is clear that many in the Republic are no longer prepared to give legitimacy to a system which results in them having a president they did not want and could not meaningfully choose. “And while nationalists preach equality and tolerance, the sectarian abuse directed at the defeated candidate – specifically because of her Protestant background – exposes the true nature of the so-called 21st-century Republic. “With a hard-left president who treats traditional Western allies with suspicion at best, what we are seeing is not a confident, forward-looking Republic, but one where growing numbers of people have lost faith in its politics.” The winning left-wing candidate Catherine Connolly secured 914,143 first preference votes – with FG rival Heather Humphries on 424,987. Jim Gavin – the FF candidate who had withdrawn from the race – still managed to poll 103,568. However, 213,738 votes were deemed invalid – the majority of spoiled in protest. Issues cited included immigration and a lack of choice in the final poll, with candidates such as conservative Maria Steen unable to make the ballot.
